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Ronald Koeman says he needs time to make his mark in Barcelona as the Catalans try to recover from a Classic defeat to Real Madrid when they face Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Koeman’s Barça started the season with back-to-back victories, but have now failed to win in three La Liga games and have lost the last two.
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The Dutch manager said he was never under any illusions about the scale of the task at Camp Nou, with a mini-cleanup that took place after the 8-2 defeat in August to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
“When I was in talks with Barça to become a coach, I knew it was not going to be an easy job,” Koeman told a news conference in Turin on Tuesday.
“First because of the changes we wanted to make and secondly because of the COVID-19 situation and the pandemic. It is a great challenge and I only ask for calm and time because we are changing many things.”
Koeman oversaw the departures of Luis Suárez, Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal, among others, and has turned to the youth as Barça look to build the future after their first trophy-free season since 2007-08.
Three teenagers started the weekend’s defeat at the Camp Nou against Madrid – Sergino Dest, Ansu Fati and Pedri – and despite the result, Koeman saw many positives.
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“For 60 minutes against Madrid the team was very good,” he said. “I respect everyone’s opinion after Madrid’s second goal. I think we were worse. But during the first hour, [with] the chances we had to take the lead, I saw a team with a lot of ambition ”.
Koeman will have to make changes for the game against Juve. Philippe Coutinho is injured and Gerard Piqué is suspended. Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Samuel Umtiti also remain out.
“It is a great game, but not decisive,” he said. “It is a match between two great teams that want to go far in this competition. Juve are at home but it is important that we get a good result playing the football we want.”
Juve have their own selection problems, with an injury crisis on defense and the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo in attack dependent on the Portuguese forward’s latest coronavirus test coming out negative.
Koeman hopes that Ronaldo can play in what would be his first meeting with Lionel Messi since leaving Madrid in 2018.
“Everybody wants to see the best players on the pitch,” said the Barça coach. “I don’t know if he’s fit to play, it’s not my problem or my decision, but I hope he plays, because of the game, because of his fame … I respect him a lot.”
Barça and Juve won their opening matches in Group G. Barça beat Ferencvaros 5-1 at home and Juve won 2-0 away at Dynamo Kyiv.
Source: espn.co.uk
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